At a press conference held On Monday 13th March, 2023 The Prime Minister, Hon. Phillip J. Pierre expressed his disappointment in the obliviousness displayed following the recent gang violence in Vieux Fort.
“What I find in the analysis of that situation is, we are pretending that we do not know what really happened and it’s very sad, particularly people who were involved in the business of law enforcement, to be deliberately peddling mistruths and lies.” he stated.
“We very well know what happened in the south. We know what happened.” he continued.
The Prime Minister says that the crime situation in the country has been a cause for concern for a very long time and the government has taken the necessary steps to deal with the situation.
“What happened in Vieux Fort was unprecedented and everyone knows why it happened, everyone knows. We’re just being… for some genuine reasons, some for political reasons, some for reasons to come after me and the government. We are using that as an excuse, we know that…and let’s be very frank about it, we know that a don got killed in Vieux Fort and there’s retaliation. That’s what happened, so why are we being hypocrites and trying to lump all of it together?” he questioned.
“Of course it’s a crime, of course it’s something that is not pleasant, of course it’s something that we must deal with. But to try to lump it with courts, that is hypocritical. We are very concerned and right now we are taking immediate measures to stop it now. Short term measures.” he says.
The Prime Minister Reiterated the actions being taken to arrest the situation in Vieux Fort.
- “We are bringing in the RSS to help us on the ground to deal with that issue.
- We are further enhancing the facilities for the police in terms of vehicles in terms of numbers.?
- We are going to Parliament with emergency legislation to give the police emergency powers to suppress crime.
- We are trying to improve the moral of the police. We’re trying to see if we can deal with other issues with technology, scanners, drones etc. and
- We are giving the police more training and generally improving the conditions for the police.”
“You notice we have started work on the Gros islet police station, we are working on the Vieux Fort police station. But to lump all of it together for political reasons is hypocrisy. What happened in Vieux Fort has nothing to do with the courts, has nothing to do with the police station. It is a don who got killed and revenge has been taken, retaliation related. Everyone knows that, we’re just trying to find an excuse. Some of us are trying to look for excuses, some of us are trying to blame the government.”
Prime Minister Pierre concluded that his government does not condone these violent attacks, and that they were going to fight against it and have immediate measures to enhance what it started a long time ago.”
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